Ohio grandfather has hope for pit-bull victim

Sunday, June 15, 2014

CINCINNATI (AP) — The grandfather of a 6-year-old girl mauled by two pit bulls says he wants hers to become a story of hope.

Leslie McElrath Jr. says he is praying for her recovery and hopes the community sees this as an opportunity to come together. He tells The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/1q0jssG ) in a story published Sunday that the city can show how much people care as they rally behind a little girl's healing.

Zainabou (ZAN'-uh-boo) Drame (DRUH'-may) is hospitalized in a medically induced coma at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the aftermath of the June 4 attack. Doctors have begun what family members have been told could be a years-long series of reconstructive surgeries.

Police shot and killed the two dogs, whose owner was arrested on drug-related charges.